The Sunshine Never Stops
by Entwinedlove
Summary: Set after Eclipse. Bella gets a phone call that stops all of her plans. How does she handle the news?
1. Chapter 1

I wandered into the kitchen and flipped on the switch. The yellow cabinets glared at me from the dark as the fluorescent lamp above the sink flickered to life. My stomach growled and I started pulling things out of the pantry. It was dinnertime and Charlie would be home soon. I pulled out a box of pasta and sauce. I went to get the hamburger out of the fridge where I left it thaw overnight and emptied the bag into a pan, turning on the burner. I left that to start cooking and went to find something to pull my hair back. I was returning to the kitchen when the door opened and Charlie came in.

"Hey Dad," I said, with my back to him. I was putting the pasta on to boil as he greeted me, putting his jacket and gun into the hall closet. "I'm making spaghetti; it'll be done in a few minutes, if you want to wash up first."

"Yeah, thanks Bells," he said over his shoulder as he went up the stairs to the bathroom. He hadn't really gotten used to the idea of me getting married to Edward, but he wasn't ignoring me like he did the first week after we told him. It was already early July and the wedding was scheduled for mid-August. I was starting to get more nervous each week and Alice's planning wasn't slowing down, she was like a whirlwind.

I drained the grease from the hamburger and added the sauce. Spaghetti was always an easy meal, and I didn't really feel like cooking a lot tonight – Edward, Emmett, and Jasper had gone hunting tonight and wouldn't be back for two days. I was a little sad about that, but I promised I wouldn't mope, for Charlie's sake.

I started dipping the food onto a plate for Charlie when the phone rang. It startled me a little but Charlie picked it up before I could set the food down. "This is her father," he said, a little worry line creased his forehead when spoke. I dipped my plate and set both plates on the table, and started to get two glasses for drinks when he spoke again, this time to me, "Bells, it's for you, they won't tell me what it's about."

The concern in his voice was obvious as I put the glasses down and stepped over to take the phone from his hand. "Hello," I said a hint of confusion in my voice.

"Hello is this Isabella Swan?" the lady on the other end of line asked in a professional sounding tone.

"This is she," I spoke.

"Well, Ms. Swan, I have some news for you, can you find a seat before I tell you?" the lady said again. I sat down with a small flop onto the closest chair. "Are you seated now?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, my name is Helen and I'm calling from the Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. I have some bad news," Helen paused for a second, but then continued before I could speak. "Your mother Renee Dwyer and her husband Phil were in a car accident." I could feel my eyes widen and I gulped in air while that processed, and she continued, "Ms. Dwyer has you listed as her next of kin and that's why I'm calling."

"My mom?" I choked out, still reeling from why the hospital was calling me.

"Yes, Ms. Dwyer is in the ICU," Helen said stiffly.

"And Phil?" I said, with more shock than I intended.

"Mr. Dwyer passed away on the way to the hospital, I'm sorry to have to inform you like this. Your mother has sustained severe damaged to the right side of her body and she may not be able to walk again. She'll be heavily sedated for the next few days and she needs someone's help during this time. I hate to put you in this situation, but your mother needs you here in Florida. I'll get you some information and you'll call me to let me know what you've decided, yes?"

I simply muttered, "Uh, yeah, let me get a piece of paper to write on." I looked over to Charlie and he had this look on his face that made my heart melt –worry, confusion, sadness. He was scared something had happened to Renee. I made myself look away. I stood and opened the draw on the small table under the phone. I pulled out the notepad and a pen and switched the phone to the other ear and hand, "yeah, okay, what's the information," I said and then wrote down what Helen told me. I said thank you and hung the phone. I looked over to Charlie again and sat back down. The look he was giving me said he was curious but concerned. I finally found my voice enough to speak, "There was a car accident," I looked up at him, "Phil's dead. Renee's in the ICU," my voice cracked. I wouldn't be able to talk without sobbing now. I needed to go to Florida to be with Renee. Just then, the phone rang. I jumped up quickly, and grabbed the receiver before Charlie.

"Hello," I muttered.

"Hey, now just repeat after me, and I'll get it all worked out okay?" It was Alice, "Hey Alice," she paused, and I said what she told me to. I tried to sound as normal as possible. "I need some time to talk, can you come over tonight?" I repeated what she said, and then she answered me normally, "sure thing Bella, I'll be there in a few minutes. Bye girl, it'll be okay." She hung up and then I did too. I looked at Charlie.

"It was Alice, I hope you don't mind if she stops by?" Charlie just shook his head. I went to put the rest of the food away, to try to act as normal as possible. I had lost my appetite completely and I'm sure Charlie had to. Charlie started to talk behind me as I worked.

"I've got some money in the savings, it'll buy you a plane ticket down there," his voice cracked and I held in a sob. "I know you need to get down there," he whispered.

As I put the rest of the spaghetti in a container and into the fridge, the front door received a knock. Charlie just glanced at me and slowly walked into the living room. I went and opened the front door; the look on Alice's face spoke volumes. "Let's go up to my room, I need to tell you something," I said, to keep up the appearance that she didn't already know what was going on.

We went up the stairs quickly and as soon as I had shut the door behind me, she started grabbing clothes and putting them into a bag. "I've already talked to Carlisle and he assured me that it'd be fine. You're taking the redeye to Jacksonville tonight," she spoke in hushed tones and then said loud enough for Charlie, – he must be listening, "Oh Bella! I'll talk to Carlisle, I'm sure he'll want to help."

Then my mind was my own again for a brief second, "What about Edward?" I whispered, scared to be away from him.

"He'll understand," she paused and pulled a phone out of her pocket, flashed it at me, and tossed it into the bag. "You'll be able to talk to him every night, but now you need to go downstairs and call the hospital back, I'll talk to Charlie." I nodded blindly and headed back downstairs.

I heard Alice behind me as I picked up the phone; I dialed the number and waited. I was trying to hear how Alice would talk Charlie into this, but the hospital answered and I was pulled back into what I was doing. By the time I was off the phone Charlie was hugging Alice and telling her thank you. She came back to me with a sad smile on her face and Charlie was behind her. "Alice said Carlisle wouldn't mind if she got you on a plane tonight," there was relief on his face, but it was still struggling with worried sadness. "Tell your mom I'll be here if she needs me. Bye Bells, I call you in a day or two, okay?" I just nodded again and hugged him.

"Bye Dad. I'll be fine, and so will Mom," I said with as little doubt in my voice as possible. Alice nodded and told Charlie bye, then quickly pushed me towards the door, my bag in her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N - I'm sorry this took so long to get posted. I had a good portion of it written but I got side-tracked. This chapter is hard, both emotional and boring. The reason I make you the reader (and Bella) suffer through this is because it makes it more real. We can't skip over the painful moments in life as much as we may want to, and neither can Bella.

* * *

I stepped into the Jacksonville International Airport and sighed heavily. The flight felt like it took forever and I was exhausted even though I had tried to sleep on the plane. I waited at the luggage carousel and grabbed the bag that Alice had packed for me. I looked around for the car rental place that Alice had mentioned on our way to Seattle to catch my flight. Hertz? I think that's what she said it was, but I didn't quite remember. I settled for it when I saw the big blue sign and got in line. After what seemed like hours, I was finally at the little window. "I have a reservation for Swan," I said to the little metal box in the glass. The woman behind it glanced at me and typed the name. She shook her head.

"I don't have any reservation by that name. When did you make the reservation?" The woman asked bluntly, no emotion.

"I don't really know. I think my friend called this morning and reserved it," then an idea struck. "Try under the name Cullen." The woman sighed and typed that into her computer.

"Oh, okay, it's right here," she paused and glanced at my hands, "Ms. Cullen. I have a black Chevrolet Malibu for you. Here's the information, and the keys. The rental has been paid for up to seven days and has a full tank of gas." The woman smiled stiffly then, and slide the information and keys under the glass at me. I nodded and stepped away. Chevy Malibu? That was a sedan right? Did Alice really rent me a sedan? I was in slight shock at that. I figured they were going to get me something ridiculous but maybe she realized I'd want something smaller and more comfortable in the city. I followed the signs that lead to the rental parking lot and glanced around. I pressed the button on the keys and a car nearby beeped twice. I turned and followed the sound until I found a shiny, sporty looking four-door car. I tried the key in the door and it unlocked. I popped the trunk and put my bag inside. I shut the trunk, and went around to the driver's side door. I slide into the seat and adjusted it slowly, trying to think clearly.

How do I get to the hospital? I asked myself, and glanced at the interior of the car. It had GPS, so I pressed a couple of buttons to learn how to work it, and then typed in the name of the hospital. The directions popped up quickly, and even told me to make a left out of the parking lot. I followed the directions pretty well except I almost missed the turn into the parking lot, thankfully there was a second entrance to it. I parked and made a note of where I had parked, so I could find the car again later, locked the doors and headed into the building.

"Ms. Renee Dwyer's room please?" I asked the lady at the front desk. She was a small person, probably in her mid-sixties and wore a white floral print shirt. Her nametag read Vivian. She smiled at me from under her black rimmed glasses and told me room 523, which was on the fifth floor – the intensive care unit. Vivian pointed out the elevators in the lobby to her left and said I would have to talk to one of the nurses in the ICU to let me into the room. I nodded my thanks and headed towards the elevators. I almost tripped on my own feet as I near them, but thankfully, the wall was close enough for me to catch myself. I blushed scarlet and looked around; maybe no one had seen me. I wasn't so lucky however; the gift shop clerk had seen me. The young man smiled brightly when I glanced at him. The elevator dinged and I rode it to the fifth floor, and made my way to the nurse's desk at the end of the room.

The nurse didn't seem to notice me at first, so I coughed a little to get her attention. Once she glanced at me, I spoke up, "I'd like to see Renee Dwyer, please."

The nurse glared at me for a second, almost as if I was boring her to tears and said in a monotone voice, "your relationship to the patient?"

"I'm Isabella Swan, Renee is my mother. I was called by Helen last night." As I spoke the name, a nurse from farther behind the desk looked up and smiled. She stood and took over the conversation from the first nurse.

"Hi, Ms. Swan, I'm Helen, I spoke with you last night. I'm glad you could make it so soon. Ms. Dwyer is in room 523, I'll take you to her now," as she spoke she reached out and pressed a button on the wall opening the doors to the right of the desk. I walked through and met Helen on the other side. "Like I said earlier, my name is Helen, and here at Shands we usually have one nurse who's 'attached' to a patient, and we follow up and stay in touch with that patient if they move from one floor to another and after they are released. I've been assigned to Ms. Dwyer and I'll be able to help you as she makes her recovery and proceeds through physical therapy." Helen talked quietly but clearly as we walked down the hallway towards Renee's room. "Do you have any questions for me about any of that?" I shook my head no, and she continued, "Well, Renee's had some damage to the right side of her body and lower spine. Right now, she has a cast on her right leg from mid-thigh to ankle and her right arm. She has a few broken ribs as well. The damage to her spine seems to be the biggest issue concerning her ability to walk again." Helen sighed softly and stopped outside room 523. "At the moment, we can only tell that there was some damage to her spine, but we're not sure how much. The best we can hopeful is that her spinal cord was only pinched and is swelling, and she'll gain full feeling and mobility, but as her body starts the healing process we'll learn more." Helen stopped talking and pushed the door open slowly, reveling Renee in her casts lying on the bed sleeping.

"I don't want to wake her or anything, I know how odd it feels when you're brought out of a drug induced sleep," I mentioned quietly to Helen. She smiled, with a little confusion on her face when I said that. "I'm a danger magnet, most of the time it's me in the hospital." Helen nodded a bit and smiled wider.

"It's about time for her to eat, so the medicine should be wearing off rather soon. If you'd like we can turn the TV on for you or find you a magazine to read. That is if you'd like to sit with her for a bit." I nodded and said that a magazine would be fine. Helen nodded again, "Does it matter what type of magazine? I think we've got a few different types in the waiting room." I smiled to myself.

"Wedding or girly, would be fine." Helen chuckled quietly, nodded again, and said she'd be right back. I walked slowly to the other side of Renee's bed and sat down on the little recliner near the window. I looked around the small room and took note of the quiet heart monitor and IV drip. It felt strange being the person visiting, not the one hurt. Helen returned handing me a copy of _Brides_ then left quietly, closing the door behind her.

I sat with Renee for a while, flipping through the magazine and looking at the beautiful gowns. As much as I dreaded getting married in the beginning, Alice has slowly brought me around and I was beginning to feel excited about the wedding. I hadn't let Alice know that though, because if she knew, I'm sure she'd go overboard. I had already talked her into a small ceremony in their backyard – she had wanted to go to Port Angelos and rent a cathedral!

"Bella?" A weak voice brought me out of my reverie. I looked up at Renee, her eyes were a little puffy from crying earlier, and she looked so sad. I stood and went to the bed, on her left side.

"I'm here, Mom," I said, reaching out to hug her as much as possible.

"Bella, they took Phil," she whispered, "they took him, baby. Phil's gone, he's gone." Her face scrunched up has she started to sob, "Bella, Phil's gone, he's, he's dead." I cradled her head against my stomach as she cried, tears falling down her checks and her body shuddering.

"I know, Mom, we're going to get through this," I said quietly, "we're going to get through this together." We stayed like that for a while; I held her as best I could and reassuringly brushed her hair with my hand as I tried to comfort her. She finally started to quiet down but she didn't move or say anything. She just let me hold her.

Slowly the door opened and Helen appeared in the opening. She had that sad smile on her face once again as she surveyed the scene. Once she deemed Renee over her sobbing enough to talk, she stepped forward and looked at me then at Renee. I moved a little from Mom and she noticed Helen and gave the nurse her attention. "I know you have a lot of emotional pain, but how's the physical? On a scale of one to ten, ten being unbearable, how would you rate it?" Helen asked Renee quietly.

Renee thought for a minute and said, "About three and a half."

Helen nodded. "Okay, we've got you on some pain medication that will keep it at that level. If it starts getting worse, press the red button on the bed here and I'll come adjust it. Right now, the doctor would like to talk with you, and another nurse will be here soon with lunch. Do you think I can speak with Isabella for a moment?" I glanced down at Mom and she nodded; I let go of her slowly, afraid that any sudden movement would startle her like a scared animal. I knew that feeling. That people were being extra cautious around you – when you're fragile.

I followed Helen through the door as a doctor and nurse with a tray of food passed up into Renee's room. Helen spoke quietly, "I know you've probably never had to worry or deal with…" she paused, "with funeral arrangements. Would you like if I helped you? It will be overwhelming at first, but we can take it one step at a time, okay?"

"Yes, please. I don't know if Renee can handle this right now." Helen seemed a little taken back by me calling Renee by her first name, but smiled anyway.

"Well, I spoke with Mr. Dwyer's lawyer and he said that they already have plots and a funeral home picked out. You'll just have to pick out the casket and vault. He'll also be able to talk to you about finances. This is the lawyer's information," she handed me a sheet of paper, "and it has his phone number. I know you're tired from the flight, but it would be best to talk with him today. He'll probably want to meet at the funeral home soon to discuss things with you and the funeral director."

Helen motioned for me to follow her and then she lead me back out into the main waiting area outside of the elevators then into a smaller, more private waiting room with a few chairs and a table and phone. She then left me alone and shut the door. I went over to the table and sat down. I took a deep breath and dialed the lawyer's number.

"Wood and Turner's office, Melinda speaking," said the secretary on the phone.

"Yes, my name is Bella Swan, I need to make an appointment with," I paused to look down at the paper in front of me, "Andrew Turner, it concerns his client Phil Dwyer."

"Oh yes, I was told to be expecting a call from his stepdaughter. Mr. Turner is out of the office at the moment, but he can me you at Huff Funeral Home on Davis Street in about an hour, how does that sound?"

"That sounds fine. Thank you, goodbye," we hung up at about the same time. I sighed, at least that didn't take too long. I glanced at my watch, 12:15. I went back through the door and saw a small canteen with a few vending machines, I went through the doors, and glanced at the selection – I settled for a bottle of water and a bag of M&Ms. I pulled two dollars from my wallet and purchased my items. With items in hand, I returned to the main desk to ask again to visit with my mother. I didn't have to speak; the nurse just reached over and pressed the button to open the doors. I smiled at her and went on to my mother's room.

I stepped quietly into Renee's room and watched as Helen talked with Renee and helped her eat. Helen looked up at me, and waved me over, I leaned against the foot of the bed as I ate a few M&Ms. When there was a pause as Renee chewed on a slice of apple, I asked Helen "may I talk with you outside for a minute?" She nodded, stood, and followed me out of the room. "How long does it take to get to Huff Funeral Home?"

The confused look on her face vanished and she stated, "About 15 minutes. When are you meeting them?"

"A quarter after one."

"Well, do you think you can talk her into eating a little bit more? She says she's not hungry, but she needs to eat something, as long as she eats about half the plate I'll let it go, okay?" Helen smiled and I nodded. Helen went on to another room, and I went back to Renee. She was staring at the wall, beyond the foot of her bed, lost in her thoughts.

I sat with Renee for a while in silence. "You need to eat a little bit, Mom," I said quietly. She didn't look at me, but picked up another apple slice and mindlessly nibbled on it. "I've got to go take care of some things. Do you want me to stay the night here? I don't know if they'll let me stay in the room with you."

She finally looked at me, almost confused, like she didn't realize I was here or who I was, but then recognition flooded her features and she just nodded. "No, go home to sleep; you're probably exhausted from the long flight."

I smiled at her, "I'll be back tomorrow morning, as soon as they let visitors in, okay?" She just looked at me sadly, and started to stare at the wall again. "You need to eat at least half the food they brought you." She nodded and picked up another slice of apple. I watched for a few minutes and then leaned over and kissed her forehead. "See you tomorrow, Mom."

I went to the nurses' station and looked for Helen. When I spotted her, she glanced up, and came over to me. "Did you need anything else Bella?"

"What are visiting hours?"

"Nine to five for ICU, but eight to eight for most of the other areas of the hospital. The doctor said that after a few more tests, Renee will be moved to the second floor to have a regular room for a few days. Then she'll be able to go home."

"Thanks. I'm going to go meet with the lawyer and funeral director, then I'm going to go to Mom's house and get some sleep. I'll be back tomorrow morning." Helen nodded and smiled. I turned around and went back to the elevators, and rode them down to the main floor. I went back the way I had come this morning, and found my rental car rather easily.

I got in and turned the key in the ignition, setting the ac on cold. I wasn't used to Florida summers. I typed in the funeral home into the GPS and watched as my directions came up on the little screen. This shouldn't be to hard, I thought, but I was leaving earlier than I needed to, I didn't know how bad traffic would be considering it was lunch time and I didn't know exactly where I was going.

It was a good thing I had left earlier. The traffic was horrible, but I made it to my destination with five minutes to spare. I parked and walked in the front door of the funeral home. It smelled strongly of silk flowers and old lady's perfume, but I went to the desk and rang the little silver bell. An elderly man came from a hallway from the right, behind the desk. He had gray hair and was balding. He was wearing a dark blue suit and a tie and had a kind look on his face.

"You must be Bella Swan, yes?" I nodded and he continued, "My name is Gerald and I'm the funeral director. Mr. Turner is in my office. Would you like a bottle of water or anything before we get started?"

"No sir," I said politely and followed him down the hallway he had appeared from and into his office. Mr. Turner was a middle-aged man with light brown hair brushed back. He was also dressed in a suit and looked a little bored. He had a folder in front of him on the desk. Gerald offered me the chair next to Mr. Turner and he took the seat across the desk from us.

"Hello Ms. Swan, I'm Andrew Turner, Phil Dwyer's lawyer. I take it you're here in Ms. Dwyer's place since she is in the hospital, right?"

"Yes sir," I said and nodded slightly.

"Well, Phil and Renee have two plots in Jacksonville Memorial Gardens. There are several different casket and vault combinations to choose from if you'd like to look through this catalog," Gerald continued as he slide a glossy book with a loving elderly couple on the cover. "How many copies of the death certificate will you need?" I looked confusedly at Gerald then turned to Andrew.

He smiled a little and said, "I think fifteen would be good."

I spoke up quietly, "I don't have any money with me right now."

"That's alright," Andrew said, "I'll be paying for it, and when the insurance money comes in, you'll just pay for my services then. This will be included, along with the casket and vault."

"Do you want to have the funeral service here or at a local place of worship?" Gerald asked me another question.

"Did Mom and Phil attend any place specific?" I asked Andrew.

He shook his head, "Not that I know of."

"When is all of this going to happen?" I asked a little too quickly, "Mom's still in the hospital."

"The viewing will be the evening before the actual burial, this coming Friday. The funeral service and burial will take place on Saturday," Gerald looked at me and then at the catalog in front me. I sighed and opened it, glancing at each page and the prices. There were so many different styles and materials. "I can take you to our showroom so you can see the quality of some of the caskets in person if you'd like?" I blinked at him. That sounded so creepy. I'd rather just look through the book.

I sighed as I flipped through the book, on the last few pages were a list comparing the different sets of caskets and vaults. One stood out, "our most popular set," it said. I pointed to it and looked up at Gerald. "This set looks alright," I stated.

"Are you sure? I mean, that is our most popular set. It combines quality with affordability, but there are some cheaper sets available," Gerald suggested. Did I look that poor to him?

I looked over to Andrew; he smiled and said, "Whatever you choose is fine, Ms. Swan."

Gerald smiled stiffly, "Okay, I'll go get the paperwork for that set, I'll be right back." He stood then and walked around the desk and out of the room.

Andrew shifted and I looked over at him. "While he's out, I wanted to talk to you about finances. Mainly how much insurance money there will to be, and how you'll receive it," he paused for a moment, "There were two insurance policies, totaling a little over 500,000." My eyes widened and I stared at him.

"Five hundred thousand dollars?" I whispered quietly. He just nodded. I looked at him with a deer-in-headlights stare for a bit, and swallowed hard.

He continued, "I'll require fifteen percent of this as my fee, which was prearranged in my contract with Phil. In about two weeks, all the paperwork will be taken care of and I'll call you, we'll set up a meeting and the insurance check will be handed to Ms. Dwyer, or you, if she is unavailable." I nodded a little as Gerald came back into the room then, smiling slightly. I wondered briefly if he makes commission on the items he sells. How morbid, when people are hurt and broken, he makes a profit from the pain.

"I'll be taking care of the bill, Gerald," Andrew said. "Thank you for coming Ms. Swan, I'm sure you're exhausted, go home and get some rest. I'll finish up here."

I smiled and thanked them both. I rose from my chair and headed back to my car. Now, to go home and get some sleep, I typed Mom's address into the GPS, since I didn't know how to get there from here in downtown. The directions popped up quickly once again and I followed the vocal instructions.

Once I pulled into the driveway, I realized I didn't have a key. Maybe Renee was like Charlie, and had a spare key over the door or hidden somewhere on the front porch. I pulled my bag from the trunk and put it on the porch. I started searching for a key and hoped the neighbors wouldn't think I was trying to break in. Luck was on my side and I found a small little key box hiding under a pretty metal flowerpot. I let myself in and replaced the key. I dropped my luggage on the floor next to the couch and thought about where to sleep. Since I wasn't living with Renee I didn't have a particular room and the last time I had visited the spare room had been turned into an office. I decided that I could sleep on the couch and went to the linen closet to grab a sheet, a blanket, and an extra pillow.

I sighed. I missed Edward. He's still out hunting today, and won't be back until tomorrow. Then Alice will have to explain what's going on and tell him the news she had told me – I was going to be here for eight weeks, at least. Sometimes her seeing the future was annoying, but the idea that she could see how long it would be before I was able to come home to Edward was helpful. The only problem was I'd miss my own wedding because of this. Well, not really miss it, but if things didn't change their course, we'd have to post-pone everything. I was a little upset at that, but Alice assured me everything would be fine once things got back on track.

I spread the sheet and blanket out on the couch, but remembered I needed to brush my teeth before I passed out. I pulled my smaller toiletry bag from my larger one in the floor and headed to the bathroom for my 'human moment.'


	3. Chapter 3

My new cell phone's alarm went off, waking me from my dead sleep on Renee's couch. For a moment, I forgot where I was and why, but then all that had happened in the last day and a half came spiraling down into my mind again.

I sighed. Phil was gone. I wasn't feeling very broken or anything, like I had when Edward left, I guess because I wasn't really close to Phil all that much. I was more empty feeling, and sad for my mom. Phil and she had only been married for about 3 years.

I stretched, yawned, and slowly started to untangle myself from the covers. All of a sudden my cell phone sprang to life, vibrating on the coffee table and singing the Mexican hat dance at an annoyingly loud volume, causing me to jump and fall off the couch. I scrambled to reach the phone and flipped it open. "Hello?" I rushed out.

"Sorry Bells, that was just too funny! I had to!" Alice. I did my best attempt at a growl and she stopped her tinkling laughter. "Okay, I just wanted to call and let you know that everything's going well. You won't miss your own wedding, so don't worry about that. Edward will be fine, maybe a little angry but not at you. Oh, and take a book, you might get bored while you're at the hospital. That's all. Love you, bye Bella!" And then she hung up. I didn't even have time to speak!

It's an interesting thing to wake up to your own personal forecaster. I stumbled up from where I unceremoniously landed and hoped that I wouldn't fall on my face too many times today. I showered and dressed quickly, and wandered around the house for a few minutes, wondering what things had changed since I'd been here last as well as what things would need to change to help Renee's recovery. We'd have to rearrange a bit, if she'll be in a wheelchair. At least there wasn't stairs inside to worry about.

I wandered over to the bookcase in the makeshift home office and pulled out one of Renee's novels. Looked like the flavor of the month was Native American romance novels, not something I was in the mood for. Things hadn't been easy with Jacob lately, since the news of my engagement to Edward had reached the reservation, and descriptions of steamy scenes with muscled men with tan skin and long black hair would definitely make me think about Jacob in a way I'd rather not. I hope this wasn't one of the books Alice suggested I read.

I glanced at a lower shelf and picked up another book, this one looked to be a sci-fi story. Hmm, I can handle that, heck, I live that. I wandered back to the kitchen and found some cereal to snack on as breakfast. Why did I set my alarm so early? I still have an hour before I can even visit Renee. Maybe I need to go grocery shopping. I washed up the dish I used and opened the fridge. Vegetables, some interesting looking fruits, and the basics, no need to go shopping today. Maybe I can leave and just read in the waiting room. So I grabbed my cell, the sci-fi book and my wallet and made my way to the hospital.

The traffic was horrible again today. I should get used to it I suppose. That's why I got up early. By the time I was walking through the door at nine o'clock, I was sweating. The heat was severe. I don't know if I could handle this for two months. Even with the AC blasting, the car felt like an oven. I walked past Vivian, the lady at the front desk, and continued to the elevators, without tripping this time. Once I reached the nurse's station outside of the ICU, Helen saw me and came over to talk.

"Your mom has gone in for some tests, since the medication has some of the swelling down. There seems to be a visitor or two for Renee in the waiting room, maybe you can have a seat in there as well?"

I nodded and showed myself to the waiting room. Two eccentric looking women were there. The first, with bright bottle blonde shoulder-length hair, noticed me first, and stood to greet me. "Oh, you must be Bella! Renee has told us so much about you! Isn't it awful what's happen? They even had to block off the road where it happened the mess was so bad," she babbled on in a sickeningly sweet, high pitched Southern drawl. The second woman, who didn't look much taller than the first, stayed seated and worked on crocheting a bright red scarf. She had brown hair in a braid down to her tailbone nodded and seemed to agree with whatever the first woman said.

Once the first was finished babbling on, I had tried my best to tune her out, the second introduced herself and her friend. "I'm Sunny and this is Lou-Ann," she said quietly, her voice was a little scratchy but less screechy than her friend. She also had a Southern accent, though it sounded a little different than Lou-Ann's. I wondered how my mother made friends with these people, but as if she could read my mind, Lou-Ann started talking again about how they had meet Renee at a book club. She continued on about what her favorite books were, and what they were about – giving me plenty of details about each so if I had of wanted to read them; I would have known the whole story beforehand.

I'm sure my eyes were well glazed over by the time Helen came to the waiting room to let us know that Renee was in her room eating lunch and could have one visitor at a time. Lou-Ann mentioned she had to go to work later, so I suggested she go first. The waiting room was very quiet when she left. Sunny just smiled at me and continued crocheting the scarf she was working on. Why anyone would be crocheting a scarf in the middle of a Floridian summer was beyond me. It barely got cool during the winters here.

Lou-Ann came back a little while later and offered Sunny her chance to go back to see Renee. I braced myself for more inane chatter, but she just sat in her chair and sniffled a little. Apparently she didn't realize how bad off Mom was, and now it was hitting her harder than she anticipated. Soon Sunny returned, with tear-stained checks and puffy eyes. She told me goodbye and the two left right after that.

I briefly wondered why Alice said bring a book, as I was finally allowed in my mother's hospital room. I didn't have to wonder too long, she was asleep. So I sat in the quiet of my mother's room, and started in on the sci-fi book I picked up from her shelf.

I don't know how far into the book I got before I dozed off. I remember dreaming about Edward and Alice and watching them sparkle in the sun. I know I had a good feeling from the dream, but I couldn't understand why they were outside on a sunny day.

"Bella… Bella, honey, wake up," I opened my eyes slowly, and realized I was still at the hospital; it was Renee's voice that woke me. "Hey there," she said, her eyes sad even though she had a slight smile on her face. "How long have you been here?"

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"Almost five." Her voice sounded weak and quiet, so unlike the Renee I was used to.

"I got here at nine this morning; they wouldn't let us in the room until lunch time. By the time your friends had left, you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you."

"The doctor says I should be getting a regular room tomorrow or the next day," she sounded hopeful. "I don't know when they'll let me leave."

I nodded my head and yawned. Sometime during my nap someone, probably Helen, had set my book on the small window ledge by my chair. I don't even remember what I read to begin with, if I continued with it, I'd have to start over.

"Thank you for being here, you don't have to come, you know," Renee said in a small voice.

"You know I'll be here for you, every day until you can come home, Mom," I reassured her with a firm voice, "and every day after that until you don't need me anymore."

Her smile was a little more genuine now, "I'll always need you, baby," she said quietly.

Getting up out of my chair, I went over and hugged her. "I know," I smiled back. It was in that moment that a knock sounded on the door.

"Visiting hours are over now, so the patient can rest. You can come back and see Ms. Dwyer tomorrow at nine, all right?" A nurse said after opening the door a crack.

"Okay," I said and she went on to the next room. "Well, I guess I'll be going. I love you, Mom. I'll be back tomorrow. Sorry we didn't get to talk more."

She nodded and yawned a bit. I picked up my book and checked my pockets for my keys, wallet, and turned off cell phone. Once I had all four items I kissed Renee on the forehead and headed downstairs to my rental car.

Once I arrived back at Renee's house, I decided dinner might be nice, considering I haven't eaten much in the last few days. I turned on my cell phone and checked for any missed calls. Not one. As soon as I put the phone down though, it rang, but not the annoying Mexican Hat Dance from earlier. This was a softer piano flourish. I glanced at the caller ID and my guess was correct, Edward.

"Hey," I greeted sweetly.

"Hello love. How are you feeling?" his velvet smooth voice spoke over the line.

"I'm doing okay. I was about to make dinner. How did your hunting trip go?" I asked as I opened the fridge to find something to eat.

"The trip went fine. I was a little frustrated with Alice when I came home and found you have ran off to Florida, that is until she explained why. I'm sorry I can't be down there with you. How is Renee holding up?"

"We still don't know how much mobility she'll get back. And I'm sure it will take a long time to get through the trauma and grief of losing Phil. Can Alice see how things will turn out?" I asked as I pulled a bell pepper and a few onions from the bottom drawer. Maybe I could sauté some other vegetables to go with these.

"All Alice will tell me is, 'everything will be fine.' Oh, and she said don't do the sautéed vegetables; you'll get a stomach ache tomorrow if you do. She said there should be some pasta and alfredo sauce in the cabinet."

"How would she know where they are?" I asked.

"She won't say. She just smiled and ran downstairs to Jasper. Now she's counting backwards in Spanish, starting at one million. I won't be getting anything out of her for a while."

"I'm sorry I'll miss our wedding day," I pouted a little; as I set water on to boil.

"You won't be missing it. We'll just have to postpone everything. I'm sure Alice has everything rebooked and rearranged. You're the one that set the day anyway. I don't have any specific day I want, I just want you to be my wife," his voice reminded me of butterscotch or caramel, smooth and rich.

"Has she seen any days where you can come down and visit, or will it be sunny the whole eight weeks? I'm really missing you a lot already. Eight weeks is a long time."

"It's not that long. The new scheduled wedding date is September 3. And so far, Alice hasn't seen any overly cloudy days for Jacksonville," Edward informed me.

"September 3rd? That's 10 days before my birthday, are we shortening the honeymoon?" Edward wanted to do a three week tour in Europe for our honeymoon. It sounded way too expensive, and we'd have to say indoors because of the sun on a few days.

"No, I wasn't planning on shortening it, why?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "You know why, Edward. I want to be changed before my 19th birthday. The way we had it scheduled, I would have 'woke up' from the change on my birthday. Alice thought it'd be cool like that."

"It will be just a few weeks past your birthday. You would already be practically 19 if you were to be changed before your birth date anyway. We're just pushing it back a few weeks."

"I don't like it."

"I know, but sometimes we have to do things we don't like."

"Don't lecture me, Edward," I warned.

"I'm not trying to love, now fix your dinner, it sounds like your water is boiling," I glanced up from where I had slumped into one of the kitchen chairs. Sure enough, the water on the stove had started to boil.

"Wow," I muttered softly. I heard Edward's beautiful low chuckle at that.

"I love you, Bella. Be safe."

"Love you too," and with that we hung up. I sighed again. It's only been two days since I was in Forks, three days since I saw him last, and I already feel lost and empty. I don't know how I am going to get through the next eight weeks.

Phil's funeral was in four days. I think they scheduled it so far away, hoping Renee would be able to go. I hoped she would be home by then. I busied myself with cooking and eating dinner, and then headed to "bed" early with that sci-fi book I had taken with me to the hospital.

* * *

The next day went by slowly but predictably. I wasn't rewarded with a call from Alice, however. As I was getting off the couch I got tangled in my blanket and stumped my toe on the coffee table. At the hospital, I spent most of my time reading in the room with Renee while she slept. I was only asked to wait in the waiting room for about an hour while they took her for more tests right before lunch. After the hour in the waiting room, I wandered downstairs to find the cafeteria.

I found a tuna fish sandwich in the rotating snack machine and I pressed the button for a Fanta on the Coca-Cola machine, but a Dasani water came out instead. Oh well, probably better that I didn't get the sugary drink. I ate my meal at a quiet table in the corner and watched the other people around me. Doctors would come in for a quick bite between their tasks. Nurses would sit in groups and chat lively about some of their patients. Every so often a few family members or friends would sit together, but most often they were a lot of single people to a table, like me.

I saw one elderly gentleman sitting solemnly at a corner table with a tray of uneaten food in front of him. His eyes were downcast and when he glanced up I could see that his eyes were red and puffy from crying. He pulled his glasses off and set them on the table, ran a hand through his thinning gray hair and sighed. He dried his eyes with his napkin and put the glasses back on. I felt like I was intruding into his personal moment, but I just couldn't look away. That is until he caught me staring. I blushed and looked down at my empty plate, realizing this was my opportunity to leave and avoid the awkward situation. But something made me stay.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that the gentleman stood up and tossed his food in the bin and started in my direction. Again, I could have left, but I didn't move. The elderly man stood at the chair opposite of me, and gently cleared his throat so I would look at him. "May I sit with you for a moment, dear?"

"Yes sir," I said and nodded. I watched as he sat down, and rested his clasped hands on the table. He looked at me critically for a few moments before he spoke.

"My wife is dying. We knew it was coming, really," he paused, "we've been relatively healthy these past 52 years, but when we lost our son is a car accident five years ago; well, our grief has been hard to live through." He stopped speaking, but continued to look at me, not really expecting me to say anything, but more like he was looking through me to memories of his life. "It's hard losing a child. It's hard on the father, but sometimes my own love and grief seemed miniscule in comparison to Dotty's pain.

"But in those five years, we've had two great-grand babies born from our granddaughter, and we've learned to share our love and joy once again. I don't know how I'll go on once Dotty is gone though. These hospital bills are taking everything from our savings. It's a shame really. We had talked about this, and decided that when it was time, we'd just prefer to go peacefully at home with our loved ones around us. But our daughter doesn't want to believe this is the end. Dot and I know it, and we've come to terms with it. It doesn't make it any easier. It doesn't make the pain or the coming emptiness go away, or dull. But being able to accept that it's the end, makes it easier to grieve.

"I didn't mean to tell you such a long story, but for some reason, I felt like you needed to hear it. I hope I didn't make you too sad."

By this time I did have tears in my eyes for him. It was such a sad story, even though he spoke with such tranquility, like he had accepted that death was the next step for them. How he talked about his dying wife and himself together, always as a pair.

"Ah, there you are!" a young woman's voice came from behind him. She was holding a child at her hip, and I suppose her husband was standing behind her holding the hand of a toddler. "We've been looking everywhere for you, Pop." As she stepped closer, the older gentleman started to get up.

"It was good talking with you, my dear," he said gently to me and started to walk away with the woman and her family.

"Papa-georsh, papa-georsh come, let's go see Mama-dot!" the toddler said, in an excited tone. The few tears that were in my eyes finally trickled down my face. How do you explain to a child that someone they love is dying? That they won't be around anymore?

I gathered up the little bits of trash I had from my lunch and tossed them in the bin. Staying at the hospital like this was emotionally exhausting. Not just the gentleman's story, but just seeing all the sick people. All these people in pain. All these people suffering. If only there was a way to help them somehow.


End file.
